When an aircraft is immobilized on an airport stand, numerous items of ground support equipment (Ground Support Equipment), such as, for example, baggage trolleys and mobile stairways for the passengers, are brought close to the aircraft.
According to one embodiment, these various items of ground support equipment each comprise a hitch for connecting them to a tractor vehicle.
In operation, various items of support equipment are each pulled by a tractor vehicle moving in a concomitant manner on a limited area, close to the aircraft. The footprint of these various items of ground support equipment hitched to their tractor vehicles is relatively large.
The combination of these factors (large footprint, proximity of these numerous items of equipment) results in increasing the risk of incidents such as collisions between two items of ground support equipment or between an item of ground support equipment and the aircraft or a ground crew member.
In order to reduce the footprint, according to a second embodiment, each item of ground support equipment can be motorized. This solution is not satisfactory because it results in greatly increasing the purchase and maintenance costs of these items of equipment.